Star Trek:Odyssey 5:Objects in the Rearview Mirror
by rylansato
Summary: Lt. Commander Zofchak is captured by an agent of the Terran Empire from the mirror universe so the Empire can gain technical data on Transphasic torpedoes. Now it's up to Captain Allensworth to send a team over and bring back his chief engineer.
1. Abduction

Star Trek: Odyssey: Episode 5: Objects in the Rearview Mirror

Spock stepped around Captain Kirk to the dark transporter control panel with Marlena Moreau watching on with a curious look. He clicked on the comm. system. Captain Kirk looked as if he didn't know what to expect.

"Engineering, reactivate main transporter circuits."

Only a second had passed before the transporter control board lit up with life. Kirk now knew that this Spock was going to help him and the others get back instead of killing them.

"You're a man of integrity in both universes, Mister Spock." Kirk said.

"You must return to your universe. I must have my captain back. I will operate the transporter. You have two minutes and ten seconds."

"For that time I have something to say. How long before the Halkans' prediction of galactic revolt is realized?"

"Approximately two hundred forty years."

"Inevitable outcome?"

"The Empire shall be overthrown, or course."

"The illogic of waste, Mister Spock, the waste of lives, potential, resources, time. I submit to you that your Empire is illogical because it cannot endure. I submit that you are illogical to be a willing part of it."

"You have one minute and twenty-three seconds."

Kirk put up his hand. "If change is inevitable, predictable, beneficial, doesn't logic demand that you be apart of it?"

"One man cannot summon the future."

"But one man can change the present. Be the captain of this Enterprise, Mister Spock. Find a logical reason for sparing the Halkans, and make it stick. Push til it gives. You can defend yourself better than any man in the fleet."

"Captain, get in the chamber." Scotty said with a bit of urgency.

Kirk looked Spock in the eyes for a few more seconds before succumbing to Scotty's request. He began to move and looked Marlena in the eyes before returning his gaze to Spock.

"How about it, Spock?"

"A man must also have the power."

Kirk looked back to Marlena. He knew that he had to reveal the secret of his counterpart's mysterious power.

"In my cabin…is a device that will make you invincible."

Spock lifted an eyebrow. "Indeed."

"What will it be? Past or future? Tyranny or freedom? It's up to you."

He glanced back at Marlena and placed a hand on hers. He took one more look at Spock before heading for the transporter pad.

Scotty switched over to his transporter pad behind Dr. McCoy as Kirk took his spot in front of Uhura.

"It is time." Spock said as Marlena stepped over to him and looked at Kirk.

"In every revolution, there's one man with a vision." Kirk said.

After activating the transporting sequence Spock spoke. "Captain Kirk, I shall consider it."

At that moment, Spock began transporting. Uhura, Kirk, McCoy and Scotty began to fade from that universe in a shimmer of blue, green, red and gold light, very different from the yellowish-orange hue that they were used to in their own universe. Finally the four of them disappeared from sight and almost instantly they were replaced with the maniacal versions that belonged in the universe they were materializing in. Captain Kirk took one look at Spock and noticed his woman, Marlena Moreau, standing next to him. He instantly became suspicious and wondered if he ended up in that other universe because of Spock.

"Spock, what is going on?"Kirk demanded.

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 57440.2. We have just left Earth and are on our way to Vulcan to drop off T'Pol from the NX-01 Enterprise we encountered a few days ago. T'Pol and a few others have decided to go their separate ways, however some have decided to remain aboard such as Lieutenant Commander Hoshi Sato and Corporal McKenzie and a few other MACOs. Since there were no need for MACOs aboard starships, they have been turned into security officers and been able to keep their ranks._

Lt. Commander Dustin Zofchak was exhausted. He had a long day in Engineering and he needed to get some rest before he started again. He figured a short nap will help him out. He didn't even bother getting out of uniform; he just dropped onto his bed and was enveloped by the comfort of his bed and drifted off to sleep. Suddenly, his door chimed. Zofchak hoped it was in his imagination. Then it chimed again.

"If this is not an insanely hot girl, I will shove someone out an airlock." He said to himself as he got up.

He went to the door and pressed a button on the panel on the wall. The doors slid away from each other to reveal Counselor Nycz. Without his consent, she walked leisurely into his quarters and allowed the doors to close behind her.

"Is there something I can do for you, Counselor?" He asked.

"Uh huh." She replied with a bit of a seductive tone.

He was a bit taken back by her choice in clothing. It looked like a custom made version of a Starfleet uniform. She wore a sleeveless, black top with gray shoulders but no science division turtle neck underneath. Instead, it looked as if there was nothing underneath her top, for it was zipped up to the middle of her chest, revealing a good amount of cleavage. This style of uniform also bared her midriff. She wore a black skirt with a gold sash around her waist and black knee high boots.

Zofchak wasn't sure what to do. Nycz came close and rested her arms on Zofchak's shoulders. Then she leaned in for a kiss. After a few seconds had passed, Dustin's senses came back and he broke the kiss.

"I'm sorry, Counselor but those days are behind us."

"Maybe for you but I haven't forgotten about those nights during the academy that we spent together."

Zofchak was confused and found Christine's behavior quite out of character. Hell, her uniform was out of character. Then his vision began to blur. He blinked his eyes hoping that it would cease but the blurriness continued. He then dropped to his hands and knees. He looked up to Nycz, who was standing in front of him staring at him.

"What is going…on?" He asked before he dropped to the floor, unconscious.

Nycz pulled out a communicator pin and placed it on her uniform. The pin was in the shape of the Earth with a sword through it. She tapped it to activate it.

"Nycz to ISS Alexandria. Two to transport."


	2. Beginning the Search

Lt. Commander Hoshi Sato walked down the corridors of the Alexandria on her way to Commander Zofchak's quarters. Instead of her blue Enterprise jumpsuit, she now wore the black uniform with grey shoulders. She wore the blue turtleneck underneath and held her rank of Lieutenant Commander. She was still getting used to the feel of her new uniform. Living in this century was already better than living in the 22nd century. She didn't have to worry about being chased by the Xindi and the human race was thriving instead of dying. She was enjoying it here. She reached the door that led into Zofchak's quarters. She felt a bit of nervousness but wasn't sure why. She did her best to shrug it off and put on a more professional appearance. She and Zofchak were supposed to meet in Ten Forward for lunch before heading to the holodeck for a history lesson. She wanted to know about the events of this timeline and become familiar with them. He wasn't usually late but today he was. Her nervous feeling became a feeling of worry. She pressed the chime on the panel but no answer came. She tapped her comm. badge.

"Sato to Zofchak."

No response.

"Sato to Zofchak, respond please."

Still no reply. She became even more worried. Then she remembered she could locate him just by asking the computer.

"Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander Zofchak."

"Lieutenant Commander Zofchak is not on board."

Now she knew something was wrong. They were in the middle of space and no where near Vulcan yet. She had to do something but she didn't know what. She turned and ran for the nearest turbolift. As soon as she got inside the turbolift she wasted no time telling the computer her destination.

"Bridge."

The computer beeped confirming her command.

Commander Jason Sparhawk sat in the center chair of the bridge while Captain Allensworth sat in his ready room. Lt. Commander Merriell sat at Ops while Lt. Moran sat at Navigation. The back turbolift doors opened as Hoshi Sato walked through with a bit of urgency.

"Commander, I think we have a problem." She said.

"Oh? What is it?" He asked calmly.

"Commander Zofchak is missing."

Sparhawk stood up and faced Sato. "What?"

Merriell and Moran looked at each other before turning their heads further to look at Sparhawk and Sato.

"He was supposed to meet me for lunch but he never showed. I went to his quarters and he wasn't there and I asked the computer and it said that he wasn't on board."

Sparhawk looked to the ceiling of the bridge as he called out into the air.

"Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander Zofchak."

"Lietenant Commander Zofchak is not on board."

Sparhawk's look shot back to Sato as if he was confirming her statement.

"Merriell, check to see if any shuttlecraft is missing."

Merriell pressed a few buttons on his console. "All shuttlecraft are present and accounted for."

At that moment, Captain Allensworth strolled out of his ready room. "What's all the commotion, Commander?"

"It would appear, sir that Commander Zofchak is missing. He isn't on board and all shuttlecraft are accounted for."

Growing concerned, Allensworth looked to his third in command. "Drop out of warp and hold position here. Alex, I want you to check all transporter memory banks and see if he beamed off at any point after leaving Earth."

"Aye, sir." He said getting up from his station and instantly replaced by Kell Perim.

"Lieutenant Fulks, I want you and a security team to check his quarters and run a sweep to see if you any clues on his disappearance."

"Yes, sir." Fulks said leaving the bridge. He was replaced by Ensign Olivia James.

"Lieutenant Perim, send a subspace message to Vulcan informing them of our situation. We're not moving until we find him."

Dustin regained consciousness. He realized he was leaning against a wall when he raised his head and it slightly bumped it. His vision became more stable and he realized that he was in a circular tube. He saw people standing beyond the tube. He could tell that they wore Starfleet uniforms and one of them was Captain Allensworth. Zofchak was completely confused. He got to his feet and put his fists to the glass of the tube.

"Captain, what is going on here?"

Allensworth didn't say anything. He just nodded to the officer standing at a control board. The officer pressed a button on the control board and then Zofchak screamed in pain. The pain only lasted a few seconds but it seemed like an eternity. The officer shut down the panel at the captain's second nod.

Zofchak breathed heavily. He knew of such a device. Nothing that he had ever encountered before but something he read about during his academy days.

"An agony booth." Zofchak muttered.

Captain Allensworth stepped closer to the booth. "So you know where you are."

Zofchak nodded. "Yeah, I'm on the other side. Or as I would like to call it, the Mirror universe."

"The Mirror Universe, eh? I like it." Allensworth said.

"Glad you approve." Zofchak said sarcastically.

Allensworth noticed Zofchak's tone and didn't really approve of it but allowed him to have that one.

"Why am I here?" Zofchak asked.

"We need technical data on a weapon that your side possesses."

"Which is?"

"The transphasic torpedo."

"You're kidding me, right? You used your Counselor Nycz to come to my universe, drug me, and then pull me over here just to get the specs on the transphasic torpedo?"

Allensworth nodded. "Yes. Now what is the technical data?"

Zofchak straightened his posture and his uniform. "Dustin R. Zofchak. Lieutenant Commander. SC two-five-six dash one-two-seven."

"Ok, fine." Allensworth said with a slight disappointing tone. "Zofchak, do it."

Zofchak looked confused for a second and then realized that the officer that was running the controls was none other than his mirror counterpart. He looked over and saw his counterpart return the gaze and grin before activating the controls and sending Commander Zofchak into extreme agony.


	3. Transporter Traces

Commander Merriell stood in Transporter room three with Lieutenant Laura Horodyski and Lieutenant Sam Khean. They were scanning the isolinear chips containing the transporter memory. Khean assisted Merriell with the isolinear chips and Horodyski stood at the controls entering commands to check the transporter logs. So far they hadn't found anything.

"The transporter logs are clear, Commander." She reported.

Merriell sighed. "So are the transporter memory banks." He said standing up.

Suddenly, he felt the slightly vibration of his comm. badge activating.

"Lieutenant Fulks to Commander Merriell."

"Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"Would you report to Commander Zofchak's quarters, please?"

"I'm on my way." Merriell said. "Continue your sweeps." He said walking out of the room.

Lt. Fulks scanned the room with his tricorder by slowly moving it up and down and side to side. Merriell walked into the room moments after Fulks's request.

"You wanted to see me, Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir. Take a look at this."

He handed the tricorder over to Merriell.

"There are very faint traces of the use of a transporter."

"What kind of transporter?"

"Federation."

"Federation?"

"Each transporter leaves a signature of what type of transporter was used."

"Couldn't it have been faked?"

"It is possible but these traces are very faint and we almost missed them. I don't think that the users would go to the trouble of faking the traces if they were this faint."

"If it is in fact Federation, then who could've taken him? We haven't come within transporter range of any ship since leaving Earth."

"There's more, Commander."

"More?"

"There's a slight variance of the transporter. It's Federation definitely but there's something else in the trace that I have no idea what it is?"

"Could it be Tachyon emissions from transporting to a cloaked ship?"

"No, it's something else. More elaborate than that. Something I've never seen before."

"We should notify the Captain." Merriell said.

Merriell nodded in agreement and then tapped his comm. badge. "Commander Merriell to Captain Allensworth,

"Go ahead, Commander."

"Could you report to Commander Zofchak's quarters? We've got something that may interest you."

"I'm on my way."

The mirror counterpart of Captain Allensworth walked down the corridors of his Alexandria. Anybody who passed him stopped and saluted him with a fist to the chest and then and out stretched arm. He turned a corner to the area where the agony booth was kept. Zofchak was still in there. He was breathing heavily and sweating. The mirror Zofchak saluted and then turned back around to the console.

"Not bad." Zofchak's counterpart said. "Fourteen hours in the booth and he still hasn't given up any information. They obviously train their officers well on the other side."

Allensworth stepped up to the booth and stared at the chief engineer. "Tell me what I want to know."

"Does…the phrase…go suck a lemon…hold any meaning for you?" Zofchak said staring past Allensworth. He saw two security guards standing there. They were the mirror counterparts of Lieutenant Fulks and Ensign Olivia James. Zofchak wondered if they would just eventually shoot him if he didn't release any information. It was a fair assumption because they could just go back and capture someone else with the knowledge of the transphasic torpedo. Of course, the one person they should've gone after was Admiral Janeway.

Allensworth, annoyed by the answer, nodded to Zofchak again and again Zofchak pressed a button to activate the booth. The Zofchak inside the booth screamed in immense pain.

"Are you going to tell me?"

"I'll tell you the entire Gettysburg Address and how many homeruns Buck Bokai hit his first season with the London Kings."

"Tell me about the Transphasic torpedo."

"What are those? Is that a food?" Zofchak said sarcastically.

Allensworth was almost on the verge of lashing out at Zofchak and killing him right then and there but that would get him no where and he'd have to start over with another crewmember from the other side. He turned away from the captured engineer.

"Keep him in there for another ten and see if he'll talk then. If not we'll use other means necessary to get the information out of him. I might have to use 'her' if it comes to it." Allesnworth said before leaving.

"Yes, sir." Zofchak said. He knew who Allensworth was referring to when he said "her" He looked at his other self before entering more commands into his console to send his counterpart into even more agony. Zofchak screamed again. "If you think this is bad, just you wait until you meet 'her'."

Captain Allensworth stood in his chief engineer's quarters with Lieutenant Fulks and Commander Merriell. They still had no idea what else was in the transporter trace. Allensworth had his arms crossed and paced around the room looking at the floor.

"So we've ruled out Tachyon emissions."

"Sensors would've picked up a cloaked ship because the ship would've had to de-cloak to beam someone over, unless of course it was the Scimitar." Merriell said.

No one had to ask what the Scimitar was. Everyone knew that the Scimitar was a battleship with the perfect cloak used by the Praetor Shinzon that was destroyed by Commander Data, who gave his life to save the Enterprise-E.

"One question is: Why Commander Zofchak? Why not I or Commander Sparhawk?" Allensworth asked.

"It could be the fact that he's the chief engineer of this ship and if they wanted technical data on something, they knew that Zofchak would know it." Merriell said.

"Ok, so they take Zofchak for his knowledge of this ship but that still leaves the question: Who?" Allensworth turned to Fulks.

"Lieutenant Fulks, check the sensors from the time Zofchak was last seen til now to see if we can get a clue on who or at least what species appeared on the ship."

"Aye, sir." Fulks said before leaving.

At that moment, Hoshi Sato appeared in the open doorway. Allensworth noticed and walked over to her. He could sense her concern. Of course everyone was concerned but for some reason unknown to Allensworth, Hoshi seemed to be more concerned than anyone else.

"Don't worry. We'll find him." Allensworth said in a consoling tone.

Hoshi nodded knowing they would.


	4. Information from Deep Space Nine

_Captain's Log: Supplemental: We are still searching for Commander Zofchak to no avail. We have come closer in our search. We know that he was beamed off the ship but we are still figuring out by whom. Lieutenant Fulks is checking the crew number to see if he was beamed off or taken physically._

Lieutenant Fulks sat on the left side of the bridge at a computer terminal going through the crew numbers. He started with the time when Hoshi reported him missing, and went back from there. He was now five hours before Hoshi reported him missing and nothing has turned up. One question he had was that if there was an intruder, then why the sensors didn't pick them up. That would've been too easy. Then he found his answer why the sensors didn't pick them up, it was because they weren't an intruder so to speak. Fulks swiveled around in his chair.

"Captain, I believe I found out who took Commander Zofchak."

"Who?"

"Well, I do not understand it but it would appear that it was Counselor Nycz."

"Counselor Nycz?"

"Yes, only it wasn't her. According to this, it says that there were two Counselor Nyczs."

"Two of them? How can that be?"

"At oh two hundred hours, Counselor Nycz went to Commander Zofchak's quarters and moments later, they both disappeared off the ship. At the same time the other Counselor Nycz was in her quarters."

"Two counselor nycz's. Hmmm."

"What are you thinking, sir?" Nycz asked.

"The only thing I can think of is that it could be the parallel universe."

"Parallel universe?" Sparhawk asked.

"Yeah. Captain Kirk and a landing party were transported to a parallel universe by accident. The universe was just like ours but more brutal, cruel and vicious."

"There were some cases of them coming over here to steal something. All of those cases were recorded by officers stationed on Deep Space Nine." Allensworth turned to his first officer. "Commander, send a subspace message to Deep Space Nine and tell them of our situation and ask if they can offer any assistance."

"Aye, sir." Sparhawk said turning to the console next to his chair.

Zofchak sat tied up and unconscious in a chair in someone's quarters. His head hung down as far as his neck would allow. It is unknown what could've caused his unconsciousness. It could've been from being the agony booth for a day straight, or it could've been from the beating he got from some of the security officers. A pair of green hands softly stroked the side of his face. He finally regained consciousness. He blinked his eyes open and slowly raised his head. He then felt the hands move to his shoulders and gave him a very soothing massage. It felt so good to Zofchak that he forgot he was in the mirror universe. The massage stopped and the person giving it came into view. The woman had dark hair, green skin and beautiful. She was none other than an Orion. She wore a very provocative outfit that would normally get a television show of the twentieth century kicked off the air. She began dancing in front of Dustin. Although, he was compelled to look, Dustin was quite aware of the power that Orion women had over males of any humanoid species. She danced about in front of the chief engineer, releasing her strong pheromones to keep Dustin attracted and attentive towards her. She even went as far as giving him a lap dance. Dustin knew exactly what she was up to. She was going to do anything she wanted to get information out of him; and Dustin wasn't sure how much he was going to last. Normally, he might've been able to resist but after being in the agony booth for a day and now being aroused by this Orion girl who looked no older than twenty-five. She was making him feel wanted and desired even though he knew of her true intentions. Then she straddled him and rubbed her hands through his short brown hair.

"I can't. I must resist."

"You can't resist. No one can."

"I must." Zofchak replied.

Then she unexpectedly kissed him. Zofchak pulled away, knowing he shouldn't. Then she did the worst by rotating her hips. That did it. He couldn't resist anymore and returned the kiss.

A beeping came from Ops. Merriell looked down to see what his station was going on about.

"Captain, we have an incoming message from Deep Space Nine."

"On screen."

The bulkhead shimmered away and revealed an image of the joined Trill known as Lieutenant Ezri Dax.

"Captain, we received your message and would like to help."

"Any help will be appreciated, Lieutenant. What can you give us?"

"Well, people from their side were able to come over by using a multidimensional transporter device. We have the specs for such a device in our computer. We can send those to you along with logs and reports from those incidents."

"That would be greatly appreciated." Allensworth said.

"Sending now, Captain." Dax said.

A beeping came from Ops. Merriell pressed a few buttons.

"Data received, Captain."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. We'll contact you if we need anything further. Alexandria out."

Ezri smiled before the screen returned to its bulkhead form. Allensworth stood up and walked over to Ops where the data was being viewed by Merriell.

"Commander Sparhawk, Counselor Nycz, Commander Sato, and Commander Merriell, the four of you have three hours to become experts on the parallel universe."

The three nodded in unison and spoke in unison. "Aye, sir."

The three of them got up and went to one of the aft computer sections of the bridge. Kell Perim took over at Ops for Commander Merriell.

At the aft computer section on the left side of the bridge, Merriell and Sato sat down while Nycz and Sparhawk stood behind them.

"This all started back on stardate three six two three point five with Kirk and his away team beaming back to the Enterprise through an ion storm." Sparhawk said.

"We definitely got some ground to cover." Merriell said.

Sparhawk looked at him not because he made the comment but because he was right.


	5. History Lesson

Captain Allensworth of the ISS Alexandria walked down the corridors of his ship as if he were on a mission and into the quarters assigned to the Orion slave girl, who apparently was part of the crew. She was getting dressed in her imperial uniform as he stepped in. She was slightly startled at his sudden appearance. She stopped before she zipped up her top and saluted the captain. He returned the salute and then turned his attention to the sleeping prisoner in her bed.

"Captain!? I was just about to report to you."

"Never mind that. Did he tell you anything?" He asked.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out an isolinear chip and handed to the captain. He took the chip from her and looked at it as he slightly turned it.

"It is a recording of everything that happened last night. It recorded every movement, every word." She said.

Allensworth smiled and nodded in approval. "Very good. Now get him dressed and throw him in the brig. We may need him again after I go over the information on this."

He then turned and left.

"Yes, sir." She said staring at Zofchak's sleeping form.

The group of four was on their final hour of researching the parallel universe. Commander Sparhawk moved his legs as they were stiff from the constant standing in one position.  
"Okay, so according to the reports of Doctor Bashir and Colonel Kira, the Terran Empire was no more. The Terrans were slaves. Kira reported that her counterpart informed her of what happened to the Terran Empire and it falling to the Klingon Cardassian Alliance."

"And According to Bashir, the Terrans were placed in the Ore Processing Center on the station and kept under strict guard." Merriell continued.

"And according to Captain Sisko." Nycz began. "Kira's counterpart ordered executions to make sure that their production rate went up. They were even trying to create a sensor array to locate the rebel Terrans."

"And then." Sato said. "Jake Sisko was taken to the other side where Captain Sisko followed to find out they had made a duplicate Defiant to battle the Alliance. Then a Bareil Antos came over here to steal the Bajoran Orb of Prophesy and Change. Even Colonel Kira's counterpart came over during that same incident but ultimately they returned to the other side."

"Even Rom and Quark made a trip over to save the Grand Nagus." Sparhawk said. "Ok, so we have the reports of our dealings with the mirror universe so how do we get over there?"

"A multidimensional transporter device was used but we need the schematics." Nycz said.

"Lucky for us, the schematics were also sent. But we'll also need to figure out the coordinates for it. We can't just make one and then use it. It has to be programmed." Sparhawk said.

"We could set the sensors to run a wide ban sweep set to the same frequency as the signature we found in Zofchak's quarters when he was taken." Merriell said.

Sparhawk looked at the other two and then to Merriell. "Do it."

Zofchak awoke and then realized he was in the brig. He moved his head and saw a security guard through the forcefield. He noticed the security was the counterpart of Lieutenant Luginbuhl. Luginbuhl saw that Zofchak had awoken and he pressed a few buttons on his panel. Zofchak sat up and slightly massaged his neck. He stood up and rotated his head and arms.

"Man, I'll be sore in the morning." He said. Then he thought for a moment. "Hell, I'm sore now."

"That's to be expected." A voice said from his left.

He turned to see Captain Allensworth standing on the other side of the forcefield. Zofchak walked to the forcefield and stood as close as he could without touching it. Who knows what the forcefields in this universe do to anyone who touches them.

"How long do you plan on keeping me here?"

"Why? Are you not enjoying yourself?" Allensworth asked.

"Well, considering the minute I awake in this universe I'm in the agony booth for a whole day."

"But you did sleep with Chila."

"Who?"

"Well, that's rude. You slept with a girl and you didn't even have the courtesy to learn her name. Hell, you didn't even buy her dinner."

Allensworth's useless comments angered Zofchak enough for him to forget about the forcefield and he punched it causing him to fly across the cell.

"Yeah, you might want not want to touch that, because that will happen every time."

Zofchak stumbled to his feet. He struggled to get his breath back. "One thing I don't understand is why do you need the transphasic torpedo specs?"

"Because we're having Borg troubles just like you."

"Makes sense there but how did you come to find out that we had them?"

"We have our ways of gathering information."

Figuring that was as much as info as he was going to get out of him as far as finding out how they had the transphasic torpedo. Now it was time for his other question.

"My other question is that, I thought the Terran Empire had fallen and the Terrans were now slaves to the Klingon Cardassian Alliance."

"There is no such alliance."

"But how did you figure out that there were other universes?"

"It all started back when a group of four individuals came from your universe and entered ours."

"But the Terran Empire…."

Zofchak stopped in mid sentence and figured out why there was no Klingon Cardassian Alliance and the Terran Empire was flourishing. It was very similar to when Worf was traveling between universes. This wasn't so much as another Mirror Universe but the same one with different outcomes.

"So what happened when Kirk returned to this side?"

"Spock was killed for his reform ideas and Kirk became Emperor with his Tantalus field."

"I see. Well things are different then."

"What do you mean?"

"According to reports we received about the mirror universe, Spock succeeded in his reform movement and the Empire fell and the Terrans became slaves."

"Well, not here."

"That I can see. Do you plan on returning me to my side?"

"Not really."

At that Allensworth turned and left Dustin standing there in his cell.

Captain Allensworth sat at the head of the conference table with his back to the table facing Merriell and Sparhawk, who were standing next to an active view monitor, explaining how they could get to the other side to rescue Zofchak.

"You see, Captain, if we set the transporters to this exact frequency we'll be able to transport to the other side. "

"But, what's to say that you'll end up on the other Alexandria? You might end up on some planet or in space." The captain asked.

"What about using a shuttle? We could beam a shuttle to the other side." Nycz said.

"The only problem with that is if we're spotted then we wouldn't last long in a fight." Merriell said.

"We would need like a ship with a cloaking device."

"Well, I doubt the Klingons or the Romulans would be willing to lend us one of their ships." Plumley said.

That sparked an idea in Allensworth's head. He swiveled around in his chair and touched a button to on his right.

"Lieutenant Perim, send a message to Deep Space Nine. Ask them if we could borrow the Defiant."


	6. Transporting Over

_Captain's Log: Supplemental: The Defiant has arrived with a small crew from Deep Space Nine. I'll be assigning an away team consisting of Commander Sparhawk, Doctor Plumley, Commander Merriell, Commander Sato, Lieutenant Fulks and two security officers. Hopefully, they'll be able to get over there and rescue Commander Zofchak without any problems. However, I know sometimes that things that are planned and the way they turn out can be two separate things._

Captain Allensworth and Commander Sparhawk stood in transporter room two as Lieutenant Commander Ezri Dax and Ro Laren materialized. Allensworth greeted them with a smile.

"Welcome aboard the Alexandria." Allensworth said. "This is my first officer Commander Jason Sparhawk."

Nodding to Sparhawk with a smile then turning her attention back to Allensworth, the joined Trill got right down to business. "Thank you, Captain. I understand that you're going to need the Defiant for this mission because of its cloaking capabilities."

"Yes, that's true. Now right this way, we'll brief you on the details of the mission."

Allensworth turned and walked out of the transporter room with the other three in tow.

A short time later, Dax and Ro were sitting in the conference room with the rest of the senior staff going over the plan to rescue the Alexandria's chief engineer.

"So let me get this straight. You want to beam an entire ship into another universe?" Ro asked, sounding very skeptical.

Merriell nodded. "I understand you skepticism but yes, we're going to beam the Defiant over to the other side and use its cloak to find Commander Zofchak."

"Who's to say that we'll find him right off the bat?" Ro asked.

"That's the only tricky part. But that's also why we need the cloak. There's no reason to send a shuttle over and get pasted by some ship once we're over there. If it's anything like what has been described by the people who have been over there then it will be a very dangerous mission."

"Danger comes with the uniform." Dax said. "I just hope we find him quickly. It'll be hell trying to find one man in an entire universe. When we find Commander Zofchak and need to return, what do we do then?"

"Once you find Dustin," Merriell said. "Return to the beam in coordinates where the Defiant first materializes, which theoretically should be in the same spot only in the other universe, and activate this."

He held out a hand held device that was no bigger than a phaser.

"It's a multidimensional beacon. It will alert this Alexandria that you're ready to come back."

Ezri nodded. "So, who from this ship is joining the crew of the Defiant?"

"Commander Sparhawk, Doctor Plumley, Commander Merriell, Commander Sato, Lieutenant Fulks, Ensign Rose and Ensign Kuzma will be the ones accompanying you on this mission." Allensworth said.

Ezri nodded. "Ok then, let's head out."

"I want you all ready and on the Defiant in twenty minutes. Dismissed." Allensworth said.

Ezri Dax sat in the command chair of the Defiant. It wasn't a very familiar feeling to her at all. Usually, Captain Sisko or Colonel Kira sat in the chair during missions. She was a bit surprised with Kira asked her to take the Defiant to meet up with the Alexandria. She looked out the main view screen to see the mighty Sovereign class vessel hovering in front of her. She almost envied the crew of the Sovereign ships because of their greatness. Being on a starship was different than being on Deep Space Nine. On the Destiny, she went to the worlds and met people now on DS9, the people of the worlds came to her. It's a different life, she admitted. The door on her right opened and she swiveled around to see the seven crewmembers of the Alexandria.

"You're early." She said.

"We want to rescue Dustin as soon as possible." Sparhawk said.

"Fair enough."

She reached over and touched a button on her panel to open a channel. "Defiant to Alexandria."

"Go ahead." Allensworth replied.

"We're ready." Dax said.

"Stand by." Allensworth said. "Transporter room, are you locked onto to the Defiant?"

"Yes, sir. Standing by for orders." The transporter chief replied.

"Energize."

As the transporter chief pressed the commands into the control board to beam the Defiant over, Ezri Dax could see the swirling blue particle stream of the transporter on the main view screen. After a few seconds, the particle stream was gone. Ezri looked around to make sure that everyone was still there and fine.

"Report." Dax said.

"Everything functional." Ro said from her navigation station. "We're in the same spot as before. It's as if we never moved."

"Sir," Nog said from his station. "I'm picking up a vessel bearing one one three mark two eight seven. It's a Sovereign class vessel. It reads NCC two five four seven. ISS Alexandria."

Ezri looked from Nog back to the view screen. She was glad that it didn't take them long to find the ship that they all knew held Commander Zofchak but she was just worried about the part of getting her people aboard and actually obtaining Zofchak. One step at a time.

"Activate the cloak. And head towards it." Ezri ordered.

The Defiant shimmered out of existence and headed for the mirror universe's Alexandria.


	7. Sneaking Around

Zofchak sat in his cell looking around the walls. There was no one standing at the controls of the brig. That in particular surprised him. When someone was in the brig, a person was always on duty no matter what. He stood up and walked to the forcefield. He then noticed that two security guards were standing on both sides of the opening.

_Ah, there they are. Now let's see if this will work solo._

Dustin stumbled back and collapsed onto the floor. The guards turned and saw Zofchak on the ground. One of them pressed the wall panel, deactivating the forcefield. They stepped in to examine Zofchak. One of them leaned in to inspect to see if Zofchak was faking it. He was. Zofchak quickly reached over and grabbed the guard's phaser and punched him across the face. He aimed and fired, vaporizing the other security guard. The other guard got to his feet and tackled Dustin. The impact caused the phaser to fall from Dustin's hands. The two wrestled around to gain the upper hand over the other. Dustin ended up on the bottom with the guard on top of him and his hands around his throat. Dustin tried to choke the guard in return but it really wasn't helping and he couldn't pry the guard's hands off his own throat. Dustin grabbed the Terran Empire comm. badge from the guard's uniform and stabbed it into the guard's eye. The guard leapt back in pain holding his left eye. The guard pulled the comm. badge from his eye, tossed it on the floor and charged at Zofchak. Dustin had already gotten to his feet, grabbed the phaser and fired, leaving nothing but a burn mark on the floor.

"Heh, I guess it does work solo." He said to himself.

Dustin looked down and saw the guard's comm. badge. He reached down and picked it up and attached it to his own uniform, hoping that if someone did see him that they would think that it was their own Zofchak. He crept to the doors as they slid apart. He discreetly peered around the corner to see if anyone was coming before proceeding to creep down the hallway. He knew this was going to be difficult with a full crew aboard. Hopefully, if anyone saw him, they'd think it was his counterpart. He slowly crept out into the corridor. He didn't really have a plan but he just needed to get out of his cell. He decided to do this as he went along.

Ezri Dax sat in the command chair of the Defiant as it approached the identical Alexandria. Her next plan was to get her people onto the ship. She wasn't sure how to do without dropping the cloak. A blonde haired female Lieutenant by the name of Janzen King swiveled around in her chair to look at Dax.

"Sir, I've noticed their shields are down. We could get right underneath of it and really close to the hull. So close so that you could almost touch it if you were standing on the hull. At that point, when we drop the cloak their sensors won't go off detecting us and we could beam the team aboard."

Ezri considered it and looked to the others for affirmation. No one else had any other objections or ideas. Ezri nodded to her Lieutenant. "Do it."

Ro entered the commands into her console and the Defiant crept up to the Sovereign class vessel, right underneath the ship's ventral phaser array. Dax got up for the center seat and headed for the door.

"I'll be in the transporter room."

Jason Sparhawk and his team armed and readied themselves for the trip over. The transporter chief checked his console to make sure everything was working perfectly before beaming the team over to the other ship. At that point, Dax walked in to check up on their status. Everyone but Sparhawk was on the transporter pad

"We're all ready to go." Sparhawk said as he stepped up onto the platform.

"Be careful over there." She said to the team. She then tapped her comm. badge. "Dax to Bridge. Drop the cloak."

"Aye, sir." Nog replied.

"Cloak dropped." The transporter chief said. "I've found a set of coordinates on the ship that no one is around that way no one sees you beaming in."

Sparhawk nodded. "Energize."

The transporter chief entered the commands into his console and the team dematerialized from the Defiant.

Zofchak slowly crept down the corridors of the Alexandria. He hadn't ran into too many people so it made him think that it was sometime in the morning hours where most of the crew was asleep. He wasn't entirely sure since his feeling for the time of day had been messed up since being brought over here. The people that he did come across just figured it was their chief engineer and thus not paid him any attention. He did his best to walk normally when passing crewmembers. He must've been able to do it pretty well since they didn't even bother to look back. He continued his cautious walking and then he heard voices. He would've kept walking but he recognized both of them. It was the voices Commander Merriell's counterpart and his own. He ducked into an intersecting corridor and flattened himself against the wall. Sure enough, it was the counterparts of him and his friend and they passed him without even knowing he was there. Zofchak had thought about leaping out and vaporizing both of them but he saw that they both were armed and figured that he wouldn't be able to take out both of them. He let them continue on their way and out of earshot before he proceeded down the corridor. Once he was on the move again, he realized that he on one of the decks that housed crew quarters. His own especially, was on this deck and not very far either.

He reached the doors to his quarters, or rather his counterparts, and entered them. The quarters seemed to be in the same order as his were.

_I should do a bit of research while I'm here._

He sat down at the computer terminal on the desk. He downloaded the information he was gathering onto an isolinear chip that he could go over at a later time once back on his own ship. Without warning, a pair of hands grasped his shoulders. He practically jumped out of his uniform. He grabbed his phaser and spun around. To his surprise it was Hoshi Sato in an untied robe.

"Easy there." She said pushing the phaser down. "I thought you were in Engineering."

Practically scrambling for an answer and trying to think how his counterpart would respond, he finally spurted out a reply. "They can handle it for once on their own. I don't feel like holding their hand for everything they do."

Hoshi nodded. "So, what are you doing now?"

"Just some reading." He said turning back around in his chair. "I was bored so I figured I'd catch up on my history."

He figured that Hoshi must be his girlfriend in this universe. It made sense seeming that he was attracted to the Hoshi in his own universe. One question appeared in his head about Hoshi though. If she was in this time because of a temporal disturbance in his universe why would she be in this universe as well? Of course he quickly answered that by remembering that this was a mirror universe and that a lot of things that happen in his own universe, happen over here. So, they must've had a similar encounter that resulted in Hoshi being over here. He would find out what happened for sure once he was able to review the information that was being downloaded onto the chip.

As his eyes went down the screen hoping that the download would finish quickly, Hoshi began to massage his shoulders and moved on to kiss his neck. It was very distracting but also soothing. He looked to the bottom of the screen and saw that the download was almost complete.

"Come to bed." She said stopping her affectionate assault and heading towards the bed. He practically ignored her with his eyes fixed on the screen. After a few seconds of not responding, Hoshi reappeared on this time she was naked. "If you come to bed now, I'll do that thing you like."

Dustin knew he didn't have any time for anything else other than to figure out how to get off the ship and back to his own but he also didn't want to blow his cover and get thrown back into the brig or even into the agony booth. He saw the download had completed so he pulled out the isolinear chip and shoved it in his pocket. He got up from his chair and joined Hoshi in the bedroom.


	8. Rescue, Recovery and Return

Dustin awoke in bed. He shifted his eyes see the familiar walls of his room. He let out a sigh of relief, thinking it was a dream. Until he moved his head and saw the sleeping Hoshi lying next to him. His eyes widened and he fully realized that he was still in the mirror universe and still in danger. He quickly got out of bed but in a fashion that wouldn't wake Hoshi and began to get dressed. He was in the midst of putting his boots on when someone walked into the room. He didn't hear the doors open what he did hear was the alarming voice that yelled.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?"

His head shot to his left and saw his mirror counterpart. The noise brought Hoshi to her conscious state. She saw Dustin standing at the foot of the bed and another Dustin at the side of the bed. She then realized that she had just slept with the Dustin from the other side. The funny thing was she couldn't tell the difference.

"Security, report to Zofchak's quarters." Hoshi called out.

The Dustin standing on the side of the bed lunged at the other. The mirror version grabbed him out of the air and threw him against the wall.

Dustin stumbled to his feet. The mirror counterpart reached for his phaser but it wasn't there.

"Lose something?" Zofchak said holding up the phaser.

The more sinister Zofchak charged but he was stopped short by the other Zofchak's elbow. The blow dropped him to the deck. Zofchak felt weird hitting his counterpart but he didn't have time to think about it, heneeded to get out of the room and to someplace else. He darted out of the room and to the doors. As soon as they opened he practically knocked over Lieutenant Fulks.

"He's in there." Zofchak said pointing into the bedroom acting as if he was the one that belonged in this universe, like they could tell the difference.

Zofchak stepped aside as the three security officers walked in. As they walked past he quietly darted out the doors before they closed. The security team walked into the room to see Hoshi tending to her lover. He shook his head as if it really helped bringing him back to his senses. He looked up to see Fulks standing there. The security chief had a confused look on his face.

"Not me you fool, the other one."

"Damn it." Fulks said before heading out of the room.

Zofchak was down the corridor looking around the corner. A phaser blast hit the bulkhead right above his head. Zofchak looked back to see Fulks and his security team heading his way. Dustin slightly smirked.

_I'm surprised I fooled him for as long as I did._

Zofchak fired back before heading down the hallway.

Commander Sparhawk and his team slowed to a halt as they approached an intersecting corridor.

"Security, report to Zofchak's quarters." A female voice said.

"That sounded like you, Hoshi." Sparhawk said.

Hoshi shrugged. Sparhawk peered around the corner and saw no one coming. He turned back to his team. "We're going cross this intersection and head for that turbolift." He said pointing. "Then we're going to go up three decks. More than likely, Dustin was the reason why security was called."

The others nodded. The team gripped their rifles and darted across the opening to the turbolift.

"Deck six." Sparhawk said once the doors closed.

The computer acknowledged and the lift began its movement. Seconds later, the lift stopped and the doors opened. They stepped out of the turbolift and began their search on this deck. They didn't have to go very far because they saw Zofchak sprint past them firing behind him. In pursuit were three security members. They ran past Sparhawk and his team without noticing them. Sparhawk nodded to his team and they leapt out from their spot and fired at the security team. The security team stopped and turned around to see who was firing at them. Two members of the security team were hit, leaving Fulks by himself. He fired back and hit Ensign Rose square in the chest. Fulks hid behind the corner of an adjacent corridor focusing clearly on the intruding team, forgetting all about the man he was after. That proved to be a fatal mistake. Without warning he felt the hard impact of a phaser beam strike him in the back before darkness consumed him. Fulks fell to the deck dead and the rescue team came out from their cover positions as Dustin came from down the corridor. He was still a bit cautious as he approached the group.

"Flash." Dustin said.

"Thunder." Merriell responded.

Dustin let out a sigh of relief as he approached his comrades. "Man, it's good to see you."

Sparhawk tapped his communicator. "Sparhawk to Defiant, we got him."

"Acknowledged, Commander." Ezri responded. "Stand by for transport."

"What was the whole flash thunder thing?" Plumley asked as she pulled out her tricorder to scan Dustin.

Just as Dustin was about to explain, a phaser blast hit Ensign Kuzma in the abdomen. This time a larger group of security guards came down the corridor.

"I'll explain later." Dustin said as he whipped around and began firing back.

"Now would be a good time."

Aboard the Defiant, Ezri sat in the command chair. "Transporter room, do you have a lock?"

"Just obtained it, sir."

"Then by all means." She said with a bit of annoyance."

The transporter chief entered the commands into his console.

Sparhawk's team began falling back. Sato, Merriell and Plumley pulled Kuzma and Rose's bodies back with them as they retreated back into a nearby corridor out of sight of the security team. The security team turned the corner and found nothing except the remnant glow of a transporter. The blonde haired leader of the security team tapped her comm. badge.

"James to Bridge, they beamed out. They must have a cloaked ship nearby."

The rescue team materialized aboard the Defiant. The transporter chief pressed a button on his console. "Transporter room to Bridge, we have them. They're all aboard."

Ezri nodded in approval and acknowledgement. "Cloak and return us to the coordinates where we first arrived." Ezri said.

The Defiant moved out from under the ISS Alexandria and veered off under the protection of their cloak. Their next destination: their own universe.

Allensworth sat on the bridge of his ship. He didn't like to hear that his prisoner had just escaped onto a ship that they didn't even know it was there.

"Ensign Rose, fire phasers at negative 5 degrees elevation and target all shield impacts."

"Aye, sir." He said as she entered the commands into her console.

The ISS Alexandria fired phasers in all directions at a downward angle. One of the phaser beams hit the Defiant.

"We have 'em, sir. They're heading away from us." Rose said.

"Follow them."

Moran pressed a few buttons that sent the Alexandria following after the Defiant.

"They're onto us." Nog said. "They're following."

"How much longer until we reach the coordinates to beam out?" Dax asked.

"Forty-seven seconds." Ro answered.

"Get ready to activate the multidimensional beacon." She ordered.

"The Alexandria is almost on us. She's targeting the bridge." Nog reported.

"We reached the coordinates." Ro said.

"Activate the beacon." Dax ordered.

Kell Perim looked down at her console as it began beeping. She turned in her chair to face Captain Allensworth.

"Captain, we're picking up the beacon's signal from the Defiant."

"Transporter room, lock on to the signal and energize." Allensworth said.

"Aye, sir."

Allensworth sat calmly in his chair as his ship closed in on the smaller vessel.

"Bridge targeted, sir." Rose reported.

"Fire." He said manically.

The Alexandria fired quantum torpedoes at the Defiant. The two blue torpedoes reached their target just as it dematerialized. The torpedoes continued on their way through the vastness of space. Allensworth slammed his fist into his console. He stood up and pulled his phaser from its holster. He aimed and fired at Rose, vaporizing him.

"I will not tolerate failure. That is the outcome of failure." Allensworth said as he re-holstered his sidearm.

Allensworth watched on the view screen as the Defiant rematerialized in front of them.

"Captain, we're being hailed." James said from her tactical position.

"On screen." He said.

Ezri Dax appeared on the screen. "Mission successful, Captain. Commander Zofchak is alive and well. We'll beam your party over immediately."

"Thank you, Commander." Allensworth said. "Give my complements to you and your crew for a job well done."

Ezri nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Captain. Defiant out."

"Counselor Nycz, if you'll accompany me to the transporter room."

Nycz nodded as she followed her captain to the turbolift doors.


	9. What Was and What Will

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 57445.7. Retrieving Commander Zofchak from the parallel universe was a success. It would appear that he has sustained no serious side effects from the other side's interrogation tactics. With Commander Zofchak back on board, we have resumed our course towards Vulcan._

Zofchak sat on the edge of a bio bed in sickbay. Dr. Plumley ran her scanner in front of him and looking at the readouts on her tricorder.

"You appear to be fine but I'd like to run a few more tests just to be sure." She said.

Zofchak nodded. At that point the whole senior staff and a few junior officers came over to him to welcome him back. Some patted him on the back, others shook his hand and some even hugged him.

"So what was it like over there?" Nycz asked.

"It was just like over here except more brutal. I wouldn't want to live there."

"Couldn't imagine so." Sparhawk said.

"Although they do have their own Orion slave girl. There's an idea, Captain." Zofchak said smiling.

"I'll think about." Allensworth said. "Get your report to me whenever you are finished with it."

"Aye, sir."

"Are you going to answer my question, Commander?"

Zofchak gave her a puzzled look for a second then realized that he did owe her an answer for her question that she asked while they in the mirror universe.

"Ok, I guess I do need to answer your question. Four hundred years ago during a conflict called World War two, when the Americans would come across one of their own, they would call out 'flash' to the soldier to make sure it was one of their own and not the enemy. They would know that by the other soldier calling out 'thunder'. I used this same tactic during the Dominion war. I advised Enterprise personnel to do the same since the Founders were shape shifters and it seemed like a necessary precaution."

"So how did Commander Merriell know with what to respond?" Hoshi asked.

"When we fought to release Betazed from Dominion control, multiple starships were sent to Betazed. The Enterprise and Wellington were two of those starships. That was one of the times we used the 'flash and thunder' technique."

Merriell looked upward. "Ah, the times during the Dominion war, the battle for Betazed was a real troublesome ordeal. He lightly poked Hoshi with his elbow. "Make sure he tells you about that and do let him talk about how heroic he was either." He said grinning.

Sato nodded. "I'll do that."

Alex stepped closer to Zofchak and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I gotta head back to the bridge. Ensign Stull and I are going to be in Ten Forward later around nineteen hundred hours. You can join us if you want."

Zofchak nodded. "Sure thing."

Merriell smiled and returned the nod before leaving sickbay. Zofchak continued to answer his friends' questions.

A short time later, Zofchak sat in his quarters going over the information he stole from the mirror universe.

"At least she is in this universe." His door chimed and he looked up at the door. "Come in." He said as he switched the pages on his screen.

The doors opened and revealed Hoshi standing there. She slightly leaned in looking at Dustin. "Hey, I'm headed down to Ten Forward, I know you're supposed meet up with Alex and Michelle but I just wanted to know if you wanted to walk down with me."

"Sure thing, let met just finish this paragraph." Dustin said looking back at his screen.

Hoshi walked over and leaned over to see what he was reading. She placed a hand at the base of his neck. "Catching up on history?"

"So to speak. It's history of the mirror universe."

Hoshi's eyes went down the screen. She saw the names of her old shipmates' counterparts as well as her own. Her eyes shifted to Dustin when he made a sound that a person would make when they were slightly surprised.

"What is it?" She asked.

"So that is where the NCC-1764 Defiant disappeared to." Dustin said.

"You mean the ship from the other Enterprise captain's time?"

"Captain Kirk. Good job on remembering that. Yeah, it disappeared in Tholian space in twenty-two sixty-eight and almost took Captain Kirk with it. It turns out that the Tholians of the Mirror universe detonated a tri-cobalt warhead inside the gravity well of a dead star. Then their Jonathan Archer took command from Captain Forrest and took the Enterprise to Tholian Space where the Defiant was being kept. Enterprise was destroyed there but the survivors took over Defiant and headed back towards Earth."

Hoshi, without thinking, began to massage his neck. Dustin smiled at the soothing feeling.

"That's unexpected."

"What is?" She said stopping her relaxing assault.

He smiled as he committed to playing her little game. "What you were doing to my neck."

"Was I doing something to your neck?" She said with a smile.

Dustin began to scroll down and Hoshi's eyes locked onto her name.

"What was that part about me?" She asked.

"It says that Hoshi took over the Defiant after seducing and killing Archer and she proclaimed herself as Empress of the Terran Empire."

"Wow. I did a lot." Hoshi said with a grin.

"Yeah, I didn't know you had it in you either."

Dustin clicked the page off the screen, revealing the other screen he was previously reading. He swiveled around in his chair forgetting about the other screen and stood up.

"Shall we?" He asked.

Hoshi nodded as the two of them left the room and headed for Ten Forward. The other screen that was left on was a personnel file of an officer serving for the Empire. It had a picture of an attractive, diamond colored eyes, dirty blond haired woman along with her service record. She held the rank of Lt. Commander and her current status was "Active. Currently serving aboard ISS Thunderchild." The name of the officer was Avery Zofchak.

The End.


End file.
